Crime Falling In Cambridge

It's safer today to walk the streets of Cambridge than it was last year, according to a state crime report released last week.

Issued by the Uniform Crime Reporting Section of the Massachusetts Department of Public Safety, the report says that overall crime in Cambridge fell by 12.7 percent, while the state-wide rate declined by 6.7 percent.

Nation-wide crime is down by two percent.

Lt. Don E. Carney, the commanding officer of the Cambridge tactical patrol force, attributed much of the decrease in crime to neighborhood crime watches and to increasingly stringent enforcement of motor vehicle codes.

"Different studies have shown that more traffic enforcement does reduce the crime rate," he said. Enforcing traffic laws increases police visibility and often deters potential criminals, Carney said.

The state's relatively strong economy may also have an effect on crime, he said. "The more people you have working, the less crime you'll have," he said.

The crime rate for the nation is the lowest since 1978, according to a separate FBI report released earlier this year.